The Footprints of Dilophosaurus

Adults will tell children a great many things,

Like God is in Heaven, and angels have wings,

That The Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, and Santa are real,

Just behave correctly and you’ll have a deal:

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Presents, candy, money, and salvation are yours,

If you finish your food and complete all your chores.

The evidence is there, under pillow and tree,

But you start to wonder if there’s more than you see.

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Grown-ups often seem strange about truth.

Why would a fairy want a lost tooth?

Perhaps it is all part of their plan,

To mold you into a woman or man.

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Giant lizards ruled Earth, you’ve also been told,

Their bones still remain, how many million years old???

At the museum you see it all for yourself,

And if dinosaurs are real, is that jolly old elf?

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Things are complicated, you ascertain with reflection,

And decide that this requires further inspection.

If terrible thunder lizards did once exist,

What other wonders might still persist?

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Try as you might, you can’t stay awake

To glimpse the tooth fairy, though you’re pleased with your take.

On Christmas Eve you strain to hear proof

Of a man and nine reindeer on top of your roof.

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You also search for The Almighty above,

Listening for His voice or to feel His love.

Coming up empty causes frustration,

Leading to fears of eternal damnation.

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Dinos were real, you’ve seen their bones!

And Grandpa has shown you fossils in stones.

One time he took you on a rather long drive,

To see footprints Dilophosaurus left while alive.

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200 million years back, in the Jurassic era,

Giants had walked here, on not so firm terra

Leaving deep tracks in the soft mud,

So, please tell me, when was Noah’s flood?

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It is quite a chore to unpack all these stories

Before you have learned about allegories,

And so you frequently seek clarifications,

But adults are vague and don’t offer citations.

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It’s different with dinos, you note with some snark,

But you have seen them, unlike Noah’s Ark.

Brontosaurus questions are met with facts,

Ask too much about Santa, you’ll be told to “relax.”

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Eventually you inquire why the dinosaurs died,

Perhaps, at this point, your Dad should have lied.

An asteroid came hurtling from space,

And crashed into Earth, all but destroying the place.

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Terrified, you ask, “Will it happen again?

If the answer is ‘yes,’ can you tell me when???”

His grim response is: “It’s just a matter of time.”

You can’t wrap your head around God’s horrid crime.

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“Then what is the point?” you ask with a sneer,

“Of all of the things that you make me do here?”

There is a long pause, no answer forthcoming.

You’re finding this all quite rather numbing.

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It seems impossible to know what to believe,

And you’re harboring doubts about Christmas Eve.

The world seems crafted of the most pleasant lies,

And terrible truths, including death from the skies.

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Even if raised by the best of parents,

How is a child supposed to make sense

Of all the chaos, turmoil, and strife,

That they are told is just part of life?

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You envy T. Rexes, those tyrannical kings,

Who ruled all they saw, and didn’t worry about things

Beyond which they could never control,

And probably not once feared for their soul.

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In the cracks of their stories it all falls apart,

And so you begin to pry at the heart:

“Dad, did the dinosaurs all go to Heaven?”

“Think about something else, you’re only seven.”

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Answers will come if you look, look, and look,

Most of the time, of course, in a book.

You learn about Zeus, Odin, and Thor,

Quetzalcoatl, Vishnu, Anubis, and more.

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Evidently adults decide what is real,

Because they don’t know quite how to deal

With impossible questions about life and death,

That would otherwise haunt them until their last breath.

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Always in search of objective truth,

You imagine that jolly old elf on the roof.

Is it betwixt fat Santa Claus

And the terrible lizard king’s gaping wide jaws?

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Verisimilitude is where you find it,

And when the world seems tragically unfit,

Remember all that truly matters is Love,

And, at any moment, The End might arrive from above.